Nightmares
by bionic4ever
Summary: FitB3: Jaime's nightmares are affecting her physically, putting her in grave danger. Will Steve and her doctors find the cause and a cure before tragedy strikes?
1. Chapter 1

**Nightmares**

Chapter One

_Jaime was running faster and faster, but going nowhere at all, like a guinea pig on an over-sized wheel; like Rudy's lab rat on a treadmill. The crack of Rudy's whip filled the air. "Faster, Jaime! You can do a lot better! Faster! Faster!"_

_"Rudy - I - can't - run anymore," she protested, feeling ready to drop._

_"Yes, you can! You will!" Rudy laughed contemptuously. "You'll do what I tell you - I own you!"_

_The whip blazed a trail of fire across her back, and Jaime woke up screaming._

------

Steve was instantly wide awake. "Sweetheart? What is it? What's wrong?" Jaime's teeth were chattering, and she seemed nearly catatonic, except for the silent tears streaming down her face. "Jaime?" This state alarmed him even more than her screams had. "Are you sick? I'll call Rudy."

"No...I'm...ok. Bad dream, I think."

Steve pulled her into a strong, warm embrace, tenderly rubbing her back until he felt her body relax. "Maybe we should have Rudy check you out anyway, just to be safe."

"Steve, really - I'm ok. I'm just sorry I woke you. Let's both go back to sleep." She stretched out, rolled over and after a few minutes forced her breathing to become slow and regular, feigning sleep. Soon, Steve was slumbering peacefully beside her and, although she hadn't intended it, Jaime also fell asleep.

------

_"You don't own her, Wells!" Oscar yelled in a blind fury. "I do! Keep running, Jaime." He grabbed Rudy by the collar. "She's my robot; bought and paid for!"_

_"She wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for me!" Rudy insisted._

_"Well, good for you, Doctor Frankenstein, but she's my monster now!"_

_"I...can't...breathe..." Jaime protested._

_"Shut up," Oscar ordered. He turned the treadmill to 'maximum'. "That'll keep you busy."_

_"Please...stop...can't breathe,"_

_Both men glared at her, their faces red with anger. "Shut up and run, robot...robot...robot..."_

------

"Jaime, wake up, Sweetheart." Steve was really worried now. She wasn't waking up on her own, and he was having too much trouble rousing her. As he held her in his arms, he could feel her heart pounding like a jackhammer.

"Please stop," she mumbled. "Can't breathe."

"Jaime?"

"NO!"

Steve wrapped his arms tighter, in case she came out swinging, but she was sobbing and completely hyperventilated instead. Several long minutes went by and Steve was about to call Rudy's complex for an ambulance when she finally caught her breath and was able to speak.

"I'm alright now," she said in a weak voice, leaning into his body for support.

"No - you're not. Jaime, I was having trouble waking you up, and it felt like your heart was gonna pound right out of your chest. Dreams aren't supposed to affect you physically. Not like that. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"What time is it?"

"It's 5:30. C'mon."

"Steve, listen. How about -"

"I am not negotiating about your health. I'll carry you if I have to."

"It's just...so early, and -"

"Your choice." Steve picked her up from the bed, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders.

"Ok - alright - I'll go. Can I get dressed first?" Jaime asked.

"I guess so." Steve ran a hand through her hair and softly kissed her cheek as he set her down. "I love you, Jaime. I can't stand the thought of anything hurting you." He was dressed in under a minute. "I'll call and let them know we're coming."

------

Steve glanced repeatedly at Jaime as he drove. She was a little pale, but otherwise seemed ok. Still, he couldn't help thinking about the hypnotherapy - using sodium pentothal - that had restored Jaime's memory. It appeared to have been highly successful, but he couldn't stop thinking about Doctor Taylor's warning of the possible side effects.

"In a small percentage of cases," she'd explained, "the triggering incident proves to be too much to handle and the patient slips into psychosis..."

Steve glanced at Jaime again. Of course she wasn't psychotic. But he knew her better than she knew herself at the moment, and even though she hid it well, he knew Jaime was scared half out of her mind. He couldn't shake the awful, sinking feeling in his gut that something was horribly wrong.

------


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Steve waited anxiously in Rudy's office while Jaime had a thorough check-up. As soon as Michael walked in, Steve was on his feet. "How is she?"

"You look like you could definitely use some good news," the young doctor said, "and I have some. Physically, Jaime is fine. Rudy's checking her bionics now."

"What would bionics have to do with her nightmares?"

"Nothing whatsoever," Michael confirmed. "We're stalling. I called Allison Taylor the minute I heard you were bringing Jaime in; she'll be here any minute."

"Or now," Allison said from the doorway. She shook hands with both men, then got right down to business. "How many of these episodes has she had, Steve?"

"Just two, last night. Jaime normally doesn't even have bad dreams, though, except when her parents died and when she had her accident, and even those were just dreams. These were...something more."

"So in the past, the only bad dreams she'd experienced had known causes."

"Right. But last night - I've never seen anything like it. The first time, around 3am, she woke up screaming, but after a few minutes she said it was nothing and we should go back to sleep. I didn't, but she thought I did. I watched her once she fell asleep again, and around 5am she started breathing really hard and way too fast."

"Hyperventilating."

"Yeah. When I tried to wake her up, I couldn't. Her heart was pounding so hard, I almost called the Medivac. She said she couldn't breathe, and then she finally woke up. She tried to play it off like it was nothing, but she was terrified."

"She's demanding to go home," Rudy announced, joining them.

"I'd like to keep her for 24 hours, for observation," Michael told them.

Rudy agreed. "So would I, but as of right now, there's nothing wrong with her."

"My turn," Allison announced.

------

"Good morning!" Allison said brightly to a glowering Jaime. The doctor noted that she'd already changed back into her street clothes and was seated in a chair next to the exam table.

"I wanna go home," Jaime insisted. "Now."

"Well, that's a pleasant greeting," the doctor said with a cheerful smile.

"Good morning," Jaime said grudgingly.

"Jaime, what happened last night?"

Jaime shrugged. "I had a couple of bad dreams, that's all. They can't make me stay here, and neither can you." Her voice was dripping with hostility, but there was genuine fear in her eyes. "They put me through my paces. I jumped through all of their hoops." Jaime stood up. "Now, I'm leaving."

------

"Now there's a woman with some serious control issues," Allison remarked to the other two doctors, after Steve and Jaime were gone. "I think I'll hang around here for a couple of days. They'll be back."

------

Steve pulled the car into the garage, and Jaime jumped out and ran into the house before he had even shut off the engine. He found her sitting on the sofa, her knees drawn up to her chest, hugging a pillow.

"Do you think I'm crazy, too?" she asked as he sat down beside her.

"Sweetheart, no one called you crazy -"

"They didn't have to. They called in the damn shrink!"

"You like Allison," Steve said gently.

"I...don't wanna talk about this anymore."

"Jaime -"

"Leave me alone!" She threw the pillow across the room and stormed out, slamming the back door as she went. She didn't get very far. Steve was right behind her. He gently turned Jaime around, wrapping his arms firmly but tenderly around her. She looked into his face, so kind and loving but so worried, and her anger dissolved into tears.

"What's happening to me, Steve?"

"Let's go inside. You can rest a little, I'll make some lunch, and we can talk. Ok?"

Jaime nodded. "I think," she said very slowly, "maybe I do need Allison."

"I'll call her. C'mon, Sweetheart." Steve led her back into the house, retrieved the pillow and helped her get comfortable on the sofa. He leaned down to kiss her, but her eyelids had already fluttered closed. Jaime was asleep.

Steve picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialed Rudy's complex. "Michael, is Doctor Taylor still there?"

"Funny you should ask," Michael replied. "She's on her way to your house right now. She thought Jaime might be more comfortable talking on her own turf. And I was just about to call you. I'm supposed to tell you to give Jaime some good, strong coffee. Whatever you do, don't let her go to sleep."

------


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_Smoke and flame were billowing from the treadmill and Jaime's head rested on the front panel, but her legs kept on moving. "You're slacking, robot - keep running!" Oscar growled. He turned to Rudy. "This is not what I paid for!"_

_Jaime, no longer able to keep going, was thrown off the back of the treadmill. When she caught her breath, she glared at the two men. "You're so worried about your money! What about my life? I didn't ask to be a damn machine!"_

_"Well, that's gratitude for you," Rudy sneered. "How about if we just take back what we gave you? Where would you be then?"_

_"A hell of a lot better off!" Jaime said firmly._

_Oscar and Rudy shrugged at each other and began tugging at her limbs, which popped right off, like drumsticks from an over-cooked turkey. What was left of Jaime was lying helplessly in a corner, resembling a broken, discarded old doll._

_The brightest light she'd ever seen began swirling around her, and Jaime smiled._

------

Allison ran in the open front door and found Jaime stretched out on the floor with Steve leaning over her, performing mouth-to-mouth. "She's not breathing!" he called out to the doctor.

"Michael called the Medivac as soon as you told him she was asleep," Allison said, kneeling on the other side of Jaime's much-too-still body. "They'll be here any minute. I'll take over for you, so you can catch your breath."

Tears began to cloud Steve's vision as he sat back on his heels and looked at Jaime. He could feel her spirit receding, fading away from him. He heard the whirring sound of chopper blades in the backyard and ran to meet the Medivac. As Rudy and Michael emerged from the chopper, their radios crackled to life.

"Bring the paddles!" Alilison requested. "I've lost the pulse!"

------

_The light felt so warm and welcoming and Jaime, her arm and legs restored to flesh and blood, willingly followed. She could see the bridge up ahead, the one she hadn't been allowed to cross on her previous visit, with her parents waiting on the other side. Happily unencumbered, she floated toward it and toward them._

_Suddenly, unseen hands seemed to be pulling at her from behind, stopping her just short of the bridge. Confused, she looked at her parents. Ann Sommers smiled. "Shake them off, Jaime. This time, you can join us if it's what you truly want."_

------

"I've got a pulse," Michael announced. "It's faint, but it's there. We've got her back; now let's get her on the chopper."

The medics moved to fasten the safety straps around Jaime's body, but although nearly comatose, she began flailing wildly, knocking both medics to the ground. "No..." she mumbled, "let go..." The medics got up and started back toward the gurney.

"Wait," Allison told them. "Don't move her yet." She stepped back toward Steve. "Talk to her; she'll be able to hear you. Tell her what's in your heart. Jaime needs to hear your voice."

Steve knelt down, kissed Jaime's forehead and spoke in a soft, soothing voice. "Jaime, you need to let the doctors help you, because...I need you, Sweetheart. Please - don't leave me. I love you."

------

_Jaime shook off the hands that were trying to pull her back and, her spirit calm and joyful, she took the first step onto the bridge. Steve's voice shattered the glowing peace of the moment._

_"Please don't leave me; I love you."_

_Jaime froze in place, torn by conflicting emotions so extreme she could neither go forward or back. "Mom? Dad?" she asked plaintively._

_"We can't decide for you, Darling. This was not your time, but your desire to choose your own fate was so strong, it evolved into...this. And, Jaime, you must decide how it turns out."_

------

Steve stood just outside the glass wall of the ICU, watching helplessly as Rudy, Michael and their assistants continued their fight to save Jaime. His words had calmed her sufficiently so she could be placed in the Medivac and flown here, but her condition was anything but stable. With every ounce of his energy, Steve tried to project his love and his strength through the glass and into Jaime, but there appeared to be no change in the well-choreographed activity around her bed.

Allison Taylor appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to stand at his side. After several minutes, she finally spoke. "How are you doing, Steve?"

"Right now, Jaime is all that matters," he replied, "and I don't have a clue."

"No one's told you anything?"

"She needs them a lot more than I do; I'd rather they stay in there, but -"

"I'll see what I can find out," Allison told him. At the same moment that she opened the door, the weak, uneven beep of the heart monitor turned into a steady, insistent wail.

Rudy's voice carried out into the hallway. "She's flatlined."

------


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

_In her search for an answer, Jaime had taken two more steps toward her parents and now stood midway across the bridge. "That's a horrible thing to say!" she exclaimed. "I chose to die, to leave Steve alone - again?"_

_"Not yet, you haven't," her father said, very softly._

_"So far, Jaime," her mother continued, "you've chosen to come this far, to have the choice be yours to make, and not anyone else's. That decision has been granted to you."_

_"But I - I can't. I can't decide something like that!"_

_"This was what you wanted, Jaime. You felt that you had no control over your own life, that other people were pulling all of your strings and you were merely along for the ride. Now you have to choose. You...have...to...choose..."_

------

"She's still not responding," the head nurse noted. "She's gone."

"The hell she is!" Michael said, tossing the paddles aside and pumping her chest forcefully by hand. "Come on, Jaime - fight!" Even Rudy was reluctantly ready to call it over. He placed a hand on Michael's shoulder, but that only caused the young doctor to pump more fiercely. "Damn it - breathe!"

Allison had left the door ajar and, unnoticed in the chaos, Steve moved silently to the head of the bed. As Michael was being pulled away from his heroic but futile efforts, Steve leaned over the bed to give Jaime one last kiss, and a single tear fell from his eye and splashed across her cheek. That lone tear was enough to do what medical science could not. As Michael reached over to shut off the monitor, the wail of the alarm morphed into a quiet, steady beep.

------

_Jaime had taken the last few steps across the bridge and was just about to join her parents in the idyllic, emerald green meadow when her foot stopped in midair. The warmth of Steve's kiss and the love behind his tear on her face reached across the vast expanse between them and spoke directly to her heart._

_"I'm - going back," Jaime said, her voice full of surprise._

_"We know," Ann told her._

_"You knew all along I'd choose to go back?"_

_"It had to be your own decision, Jaime; no one else's. That's the whole reason you came here today. When you had your accident, you were forced to go back to a body and a life that you no longer wanted. You were made bionic through the decisions of others, and other people decided you were to become an operative. You needed to make this journey today to reclaim control over your own life and destiny, to become well and whole again in spirit as well as in body. Your doctors will say it was due to your heart having a delayed reaction to the pentothal therapy, but the woman doctor - Allison? - she knows. She will believe you."_

_Jaime understood. Her vision of her parents was already beginning to fade. "I just wish I didn't have to leave you behind," she told them._

_"It's not forever, Jaime," Ann reassured her. "We'll see you again."_

_"But as much as we love you, we don't want your face poking around here again for a good, long time," James said firmly. "Understand, Young Lady?"_

_"Yes. Thank you..."_

------

Jaime's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the changes in light and scenery. "Jaime?" Steve wasn't sure if his mind was playing a cruel trick on him. Was she really back?

"Hi," she said, managing a weak smile.

Rudy and Michael stared at the monitor in shocked disbelief. To go from flat-lined directly to a strong, healthy rhythm was unheard of; impossible. Steve was holding the proof in his arms, though, and the doctors hurried to Jaime's side.

"Steve, we need to borrow Jaime for just a few minutes -"

"Get in line," he said happily, holding her close.

"I'm back," Jaime confirmed, to herself as well as everyone else. "This time, I'm really back."

END


End file.
